The Shilin District Court approved an application by prosecutors for Wang Ching-yu (王景玉), the suspect in the killing of a four-year-old girl in Taipei on Monday, to be detained incommunicado before he was taken to the Taipei Detention Center yesterday morning.
Officials at Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said they plan to indict the 33-year-old Wang on murder charges, as the judicial investigation continued into the decapitation of the child in front of her mother on a street in Neihu District (內湖).
“There is sufficient evidence against the suspect, surnamed Wang, and due to flight risk and possible tampering with evidence, an application was made to the Shilin District Court for the suspect to be detained incommunicado, which was granted,” a prosecutors’ office statement said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
It said that prosecutors have contacted executives from the non-governmental Association for Victims Support, which sent representatives to the girl’s home yesterday to offer legal assistance and explain procedures of seeking financial compensation.
The random attack against a toddler has stirred up public debate on issues of safety in public, problems with the nation’s criminal justice system, enforced medical treatment for mental patients and capital punishment.
Wang’s father spoke to reporters yesterday, expressing regret for what happened and saying that he and his family are co-operating with the police on the investigation.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
He offered an apology to the family of the girl, surnamed Liu (劉).
The father also said his son had a history of mental illness and had sought psychiatric treatment at Taipei City Hospital’s Songde Branch, adding that his son had been unemployed for a long time and relied on his parents’ financial support.
Due to the media spotlight on the case and public outrage, Taipei City Police took the unusual step of releasing preliminary details of its background investigation, confirming that Wang had a record of mental health issues, and called on the nation’s health system to improve its management, monitoring and follow-up treatment of patients with serious metal disorders.
Photo: Chiu Yi-tung, Taipei Times
It also tried to dispel erroneous reporting about Wang being a habitual user of narcotics.
“Following our investigation, the suspect had only been found in possession of amphetamines in 2006, and he does not have any record of narcotic drug use since then,” according to a statement by the Criminal Investigation Division of Taipei City Police Department.
The Liu family yesterday conducted a Taoist “calling of the soul” ceremony for the young girl at the site where she was killed.
Photo: Taipei Times
The site was lined with with flowers, cards, written messages and other gifts to console the family and to express grief over the murder.
Liu’s mother on Facebook asked the public not to use her daughter’s case to discuss the appropriateness of the abolition of the death penalty.
She also posted a letter in memory for her daughter, in which she wrote: “I really tried hard to pull the offender off you, I really tried to... but you were done. I really wish I could recall something of you, recall our love, recall something, to know that you were worth living. I really miss you.”
The White Rose Social Care Association is planning to hold a mass rally in Taipei on April 9 to push for enforcement of capital punishment in the wake of the crime.
“This kind of random killing shows that Taiwan cannot afford to abolish the death penalty,” association chairwoman Eva Liang (梁毓芳) said. “As Taiwan seldom enforces death sentences now, criminals are not afraid and similar crimes keep happening.
Additional reporting by AFP
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS